Project Wadi Attir

Project Wadi Attir is a groundbreaking initiative of The Sustainability Laboratory and a Bedouin community in the Negev Desert, demonstrating an approach to sustainable dryland agriculture that leverages Bedouin traditional values and experience with modern-day science and cutting-edge technologies. The project showcases the implementation of holistic sustainability principles developed by The Sustainability Laboratory and demonstrates an approach to sustainable development in an arid environment, valid and replicable locally as well as in other similar regions around the world.

The core of the project includes an organic farming enterprise involving animal husbandry and the production of dairy products; the cultivation of medicinal plants and the development of a related line of health products; and the reintroduction of nutritious, indigenous vegetables for everyday use. The project also includes a Visitor, Training, and Education Center with a focus on ecology, sustainability innovation, and entrepreneurship, as well as multiple educational initiatives for students of all ages throughout the region. The project site itself is supported by an integrated infrastructure of green technologies.

Project Wadi Attir operates as an Israeli nonprofit organization whose directors and members are predominantly men and women from the Bedouin community. By modeling principles of sustainability and shared society, and by showcasing Bedouin leadership and vision at the forefront of technology and community-based economic development, the project is playing a significant role in changing the marginalized image of the Bedouins in the eyes of Israeli society.